St James’ Church, Quedgeley held a hot chocolate and bat watch event on Friday (17 October), attracting over 60 people to the churchyard. The event was part of the church’s ongoing celebration of the Season of Creation, which has been running over the past few months.
The bat watch was led by St James’ reverend, Mark Siddall. It offered a unique opportunity for families and nature enthusiasts to observe the churchyard’s bat population, while enjoying hot chocolate and bat-shaped biscuits.
As twilight fell and the cool night air descended, plenty of bats emerged from the church’s ancient yew trees.
Mark said: “As Christians, it’s important to have a particular care for creation. Bats are fascinating creatures, and they are particularly popular with children and young people. We are working towards our Eco Church bronze certification, and with all of this in mind we thought it would be wonderful to hold a bat watch evening with hot chocolate.
“We are blessed with about ten ancient yew trees in our churchyard, which make perfect homes for smaller breeds of British bats. Many churches have bats in their churchyards, and yew trees are natural roosting places. Our yew trees have been cared for over centuries, supporting a healthy population of probably a few hundred bats.”
While the best time to see bats is in the summer, dusk is very late then, so October is ideal for families and children to spot them before they start hibernating in November, as the bats are busy building up fat reserves for the winter.
To help attendees spot the bats, Mark used a bat detector, which detects a very high pitched frequency sound which bats emit for echo location – too high a noise for humans to hear.
“Do not approach bats closely, because they are a protected species. We waited until they left their roosts, and we used our bat detector at a distance. It’s more fun to see them flying anyway,” Mark added.
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